horse training

TV Personality, Author, World Renowned Mule Trainer, Meredith Hodges of the Lucky Three Ranch in Loveland Colorado shares her knowledge on Myths About Desensitization. Meredith has worked with equines in 50+ years in the industry.  In this episode learn how to:

• correctly apply desensitizing techniques.
• develop trust with your equine.
• approach obstacle training with safety in mind.
• break down tasks to achieve solid, reliable behavior from your equine. 
• apply what your equine knows from his previous training, while on the trail in a real life situation that could threaten your safety. 

#muletraining, #equinetraining, #donkeytraining, #horsetraining, #meredithhodges, #luckythreeranch, #desensitizationofequines, #desensitizemules, #muletalk, #cindykroberts

www.MuleTalk.Net

Mule Talk is on Facebook - Mule Talk is an Every Cowgirl's Dream production - www.EveryCowgirlsDream.Com

At the end of the day, who do you report back to? Who do you share your day with and judge whether it was good or not?

To answer that simply, ask another question: Who are you trying to hopefully keep alive, healthy and well? That hopefully, is You.

You are the centre, you are the controller of your own life.

I am here to call out those who make excuses for where they are today. I would ask those individuals what did you do yesterday? What did you do this past month? This past year or ten years to bring you here?

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Your wings were ready before our hearts were

I’ll never be able to understand it. “Why is it the good ones?” We ask.

Life just doesn’t play a fair game and we’re just these small humans trying to navigate life’s unruly nature of life, love and death.

Our control seems non existent in moments like this but even still, we do have some control.. How you treat others, how much Love you share, how easy it is to be kind, to follow your heart and pursue your passions in everything you do in life - Katie was a example of all those things.

You we’re raised with love and you gave it back to everyone you met, and we are so lucky to have known you in the short life you lived. Although short, your impact will remain at large.

Sending my love to everyone impacted by Katie’s sudden passing, I send prayers of comfort and love in these hard times and the times ahead. Katie’s missing piece will not be unnoticed, but we will do our best to celebrate our amazing times we were blessed enough to share with her.

Rest easy my beautiful friend and fellow barrel racing competitor of many many years. 

~~
 Moving forward, it will never be the same, that is the grief we all feel. I just want to say thank you for each and every one of you who opened your hearts. Not just in this time, but for the past 13 years I have been barrel racing. Thank you for the hugs and the laughs. Thank you for giving me something I can write about. I love our barrel racing family so much.
 
 Let’s never forget the reason why we are there, because we all love the same thing. Love brings us together and love helps us get through anything. Love yourself, love your competitors and love the reason why you are there.
 
 -Shelby
 
 
 Come join us - tap into your highest self- Free Resources, Private Community Space, Connect with WCH

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Ps. do you have a special something something you think is worth sharing into the world? We would love to have you on the show and give you the platform you deserve - Click here to schedule a recorded conversation with Shelby

Once in a while I will be sitting in zoom and waiting with anticipation or my guest to join. In that time of waiting, I know we all know the feeling, our brain and thoughts go a mile a minute and we loose our present moment.

Listen to the ways I stay cool, calm and collected before a interview.

A few of the points I make are: 

• be in your body
• don't rush yourself or the process
• be curious and open minded
• be you, and trust you
• your power is in the present.

Did you hear the healing cowgirl? They are an amazing product I use for all my hemp/cbc/cbn needs for Horses, humans and Dogs

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Ps. do you have a special something something you think is worth sharing into the world? We would love to have you on the show and give you the platform you deserve - Click here to schedule a recorded conversation with Shelby

In this first episode I share with you some insights, facts and my own experiences about horses ears and how they use them to express themselves and communicate.

Often times, especially in comments on social media, I have seen people question, even attack perfectly good horsemanship because the horses ears were not forward facing.

• Forward facing ears does necessarily not mean happy
• Backwards facing ears does not necessarily mean unhappy
• Pinned ears momentarily can just be a quick expression comparable to for i.e. when you say 'no'!

I don't know about you but personally in my life, I like to have the option and permission to say no. 
I would hate to have to be perfect in everything I do because someone who does not know better would think I was unhappy if I did not.

Let's not do this to the horses. 
Let's learn to understand how they communicate and accept that as a part of their 'happy language' they do indeed put their ears to the side, to the back, wrinkle their nose, swish their tail and even lift a hind leg. 
They need to do this just as much as you need certain words to express yourself.

I could elaborate on this subject for hours, please note it is not an excuse for poor horsemanship and unhappy horses; the idea is to simply get people to think and learn the language of the horse better.

I hope you enjoy ♥

Thanks for listening!
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What if changing how you felt about your race would actually change your outcome?
Without even riding, without practicing; you could perform better just because of your intentions and your approach to your race, all starting with yourself.

** Want to Record a Voice Memo Here **

Join The Riders Society today for free!  Enrol in one of the coaches classroom of your choosing and start learning today. 

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Ps. do you have a special something something you think is worth sharing into the world? We would love to have you on the show and give you the platform you deserve - Click here to schedule a recorded conversation with Shelby

This month we are joined by Gemma Pearson, the Director of Equine Behaviour at
The Horse Trust and Veterinary Liaison Officer for the International Society for
Equitation Science.

We discuss how Gemma got into equine behaviour and how we can better support
students in regard to behavioural training. Gemma was heavily involved in the BEVA
campaign ‘Don’t Break Your Vet’, so we reflect on its success and why it’s important
to take equine veterinarians' safety seriously.

We dispel some common myths about equine behaviour and treatment, with a
particular focus on the effects of box rest, medications and behavioural motivations.

Gemma shares her knowledge of the three F’s of a horse's physiological needs, the
impact they can have on a horse's stress response and how we define a happy
horse. Lastly, we discuss how to approach tricky clients in difficult situations and the
use of whips in equine sports.


Useful Links:

Don’t Break Your Vet - YouTube Playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZLor1KlzkI9X1UpvbOxwllS1BNoLvcmR

Book Equine Behaviour Consultations With Gemma:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/vet/services/equine-services/hospital/equinebehaviour

Join us each month for a new episode of The KBHH Equine Vets Podcast and stay informed on the latest developments in equine health and wellness. To get in touch with the show, please email kbhhuk@msd.com.

There’s no question that the show jumping horses of today are different from the horses of 30, even 20 years ago. As courses continue to get increasingly technical and fast, breeders are producing increasingly athletic horses to match…or is it that cause/effect relationship the other way around? 

And what about the horses who are bred to jump 1.60, but either through a bad start or through genetics (or both), never reach that level - can a horse bred for a top Olympian still be rideable enough for the everyday amateur? 

To help us answer these questions (and so many more), we turn to Helena Stormanns, one of show jumping’s most respected coaches, horse-rider matchmakers, and breeders who was a top rider herself. 

In addition to talking about show jumping breeding today, and how it’s changed from the breeding of yesterday, Helena and Caroline also dive into:

• How Helena thinks about breeding for, or selecting horses for, the elite pro versus the amateur rider

• Show jumping stallions and breeding lines that Helena personally loves, some proven and some quite new

• New horse-rider partnerships, from the POV of both the rider and the horse

• Bits, and how they factor into developing a young horse

• Why no one is doing enough flatwork

• Helena’s views on The Olympics and the role BigEq plays in developing riders for top levels of show jumping sport

• Why buying a horse “off the rack” is never the good idea it can sometimes appear to be

I’m delighted to welcome our good friend, Julia Inglis back to An Equine Conversation. We first met Julia in Series 1, Episode 8 ‘Julia’s story - a tale to learn from’. If you want to hear Julia’s story, you can jump back and listen to that episode.

Julia & I talk so much about training, so we thought we’d start to share some of these conversations with you.

In this episode, we start by catching up on how Julia’s horse Maddy, who has Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) went over last Spring and Summer. Then, we get into the weeds of talking about the challenges of the English langauge, particularly the use of labels, in the horse world…. but because this is Julia and I, we quickly end up down various rabbit holes due to what we’d both been seeing in the months before we spoke, including talking about what you do when you remove labels, the challenge of addressing the actual problem when that impacts your plans and what the movie ‘Frozen’ has to do with horses and training.

Julia Inglis:

Julia grew up in the UK and was animal mad from a young age, catching her first pet when a rabbit wandered into her garden. She learned to ride at school but stopped for many years when she went to university in Glasgow before moving to London for further studies. Julia completed her PhD in neuropharmacology in 2004 and went on to establish a research career in the area of pain mechanisms in arthritis.

After completing her studies Julia started riding again at a local riding school, and around this time she met her now husband at a conference. He lived in Perth, Australia and in a bid to persuade her to move there started sending adverts for horse properties and horses. Within months Julia moved to Australia and they bought their first horse, which soon became 2 then 3, and is now a small farm full of animals.

Julia rode traditionally for close to a decade, bush riding and dressage but when her horse refused to move under saddle ended up learning about alternative ways to train and positive reinforcement. This has now become her passion and obsession as it combines science and training geekery with animals - her two great loves.

In this episode we discuss:

1:39 - episode introduction

3:08 - an update on Maddy over last Spring & Summer (Julia’s horse with EMS)

12:26 - how we use language, labels & why they're problematic but also useful

26:35 - what you do when you unravel the label & then have to do something about what’s going on

38:04 - back to labels - 'boring'

41:21 - so what even is a 'bombproof' horse or pony & what the kids film ‘Frozen’ has to do with ‘bombproof’ horses

53:11 - where to now - body language again & building a common language & labels as short-hand

59:08 - summary & the need for a new shared language / labels in the horse world

1:02:33 - the influence of history & present art on what we label 'beautiful' & see as desirable

1:06:06 - top tips & then some

1:13:14 - important end-of-season announcements

Link from Julia:

While not mentioned in the podcast, Julia has requested we share the link for the Western Australia (WA) Equine Clicker Trainer group so that those in WA who are interested can join and share.

Our links mentioned this episode:  

Sign-up to our email list

Abbey's Run Equestrian website

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Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. You can find out more about podcast support on offer via: Blissery.FM or email info@blissery.fm

*Please note: this episode does contain profanity*

I first encountered Canadian-based Erin Moore when a friend pointed me to a podcast episode Erin had done last year on running a successful dog training business and I immediately resonated with Erin’s work. I loved what Erin was all about & since that time have been working with Erin on my business, Abbey’s Run Equestrian.

Cut to earlier this year & Erin was on the ‘Drinking from the Toilet’ podcast, which is a fabulous podcast about all things dog training that I highly recommend. It’s one of my favourite podcasts to listen to, with much of the content translating very directly to horses. On that episode, Erin was talking about advocating for your dog and it really struck me that this is content horsie folk needed to hear too. I know it’s something I could personally always get better at and in the past I’ve supported quite a number of my students in some of their advocacy options for their horses.

We can often think about advocacy as being confrontational, but it doesn’t have to be that. Sure, it is sometimes, but there are many other non-confrontational ways we can advocate for our loved horses and other equines too.

Erin Moore:

Erin Moore was a dog trainer for 13 years, and, by her own admission, made every mistake a dog training business owner could make. After burning out and leaving the industry completely, Erin knew that if she wanted to come back to it, she would need to figure out a different way to do things. So Erin did just that. She hired a coach and learned all about the business end of things, and that changed her entire business and her life. Now Erin coaches trainers on how to set up their businesses so that they can actually have a life and not burn out like she did!

In this episode we discuss:

1:28 - profanity warning

1:53 - introduction to this episode topic & to Erin Moore

3:59 - Erin’s horsie past, career with dogs & what Erin does now

9:06 - what does advocating for our equine mean & advocating ‘quietly’

11:05 - a lived example from Abbey’s Run where advocacy in the moment was difficult (even with all my experience)

14:10 - the challenge in the moment, the impact of our history & what feeling shame does

15:55 - when it’s a ‘professional’, authority figure & gender dynamics & taking that all into account

19:17 - knowing how to research a trainer is not something most people know how to do

20:26 - the advocacy that is not working with someone that makes you feel bad & that doing things after the event is advocacy

22:34 - when an expert provides advice on something they’re not qualified or experienced to provide advice on, discerning what’s good information & what’s not - learning about that as advocacy

25:22 - avoiding a situation as advocacy - giving ourselves permission

29:48 - modelling & so normalising advocacy

32:06 - advocacy when it comes to competitions, particularly team events - which hard do you want

37:11 - an advocacy example from the past & being able to pivot

39:56 - training as advocacy & cooperative care in the horse world

43:57 - the wild that is that we see horses so differently to other species for cooperative care & where’s the horse world at with cooperative care - the impact of history

46:25 - keeping our practitioners safer, saving them time & keeping ourselves & our horses safer

47:11 - what even is cooperative care

50:01 - us doing our own therapy is part of advocating for our animals

51:07 - why should we advocate for our animals

52:37 - what you can do after this episode to better advocate for your equine

57:28 - building the skills to advocate our animals helps us advocate better for ourselves & focusing on little steps to build the big picture

1:00:32 - having other people support you in the advocacy where it’s difficult to have your own voice - planning with them ahead of time

1:06:29 - recognising the systemic issues that make it harder for certain groups of people to advocate

1:08:56 - advocating can be done many ways & we can develop our advocacy skills, thinking differently about advocacy opens up options

1:10:08 - quiet advocacy & making choices

1:11:30 - where to find more from Erin & a reminder that Erin is a business coach, not an equine instructor

1:14:28 - coming up next week

Link from Erin:

Free, thought-provoking resources on Erin’s website

Our links mentioned this episode:  

Sign-up to our email list

Abbey's Run Equestrian website

Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. You can find out more about podcast support on offer via: Blissery.FM or email info@blissery.fm

We want your training with your horse to be fun & enjoyable for your both – in short, we want you to be really successful in your training.

When we think about training with our horses & being successful with our training, we often think about the time when we're actively training 1:1 with our horse... but there is a whole bunch of stuff that comes before the active training part that is inextricably connected to how successful any active training will be or not.

Some of the things that come before take some time to put in place & others can be done more rapidly. The very cool thing too, is that the more we get in place and the more practiced we get at setting ourselves and our horses up for success, the faster it becomes over time. So while initially, it might take some conscious, focused thought and actions – it will become easier over time.

Setting ourselves up for success is something we will be exploring in greater detail with you awesome humans who get involved in our virtual young & green horse program that launches on the 1st of August 2023… but setting ourselves & our horses up for success is so important & we wanted to touch on it here, through An Equine Conversation too.

There is so much we could talk about on how we set ourselves and our horses up for success but today we’re going to follow on from something we mentioned super briefly in Series 2, Episode 3 of An Equine Conversation with Dr Lisa Walter – that it takes a team.

In this episode we discuss:

1:29 - episode introduction

3:01 - recap on the importance of ruling out pain for training success

5:10 - the team: who’s on it, ever-evolving & differences in support

9:16 - a closer look at the training impact of saddle fitting

14:38 - a closer look at the training impact of dental stuffs

18:29 - episode wrap-up

21:42 - what’s coming up next episode

Links mentioned this episode:  

Sign-up to our email list

Abbey's Run Equestrian website

Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Horses and People - The 2020 Five Domains Model for Welfare Assessment

Equiculture - The 3 F’s. Why they are important to your horse

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. You can find out more about podcast support on offer via: Blissery.FM or email info@blissery.fm

In my almost 3 decades of teaching people with horses, there are some things I have been asked about many times. Questions around or support in buying a new horse has been one of these.

Horse shopping, much like property shopping, can be an emotional roller-coaster of an experience. Then when you finally land on which equine and have your new partner home, things may not go, in fact often they don’t go, quite as you imagined they would.

In this episode I’m going to speak to the ‘truth’ in buying a horse, whether that be your first, second, third or tenth horse.

In this episode we discuss:

1:26 - episode introduction

2:08 - dishonest sellers as opposed to different ‘truths’

3:01 - where our truth comes from

3:28 - why the difference in the ‘truth’ & what it can look like

4:55 - the influential impact on the truth of the conditions the horse is kept in

5:54 - examples to highlight the impact of conditions on the ‘truth’

9:20 - a difference in a seller and buyers ‘truth’ about a horse & the importance of asking a seller but also observing the horse

10:46 - the use of descriptive labels & getting to the bottom of what they actually mean

11:46 - the exception to the rule where the ‘truths’ meet & the effort that went into setting up this mutual ‘truth’

13:45 - what to do now with this information

15:46 - intro to what’s coming up next episode

Our links mentioned this episode:  

Sign-up to our email list

Abbey's Run Equestrian website

Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. You can find out more about podcast support on offer via: Blissery.FM or email info@blissery.fm

How many people do you know who’ve had some kind of pain or illness that the human medical professionals have not been able to get to the bottom of or provide relief from? Or where it’s taken some time and robust investigations, often driven by the person or their family to figure out what’s going on?

I know quite a few & have experienced this myself, and this is with the diagnostics available to human medicine.

Almost daily I see equine-owning humans asking for training help online with a horse that’s body language and behaviour is indicating likely pain. Sometimes this body language from the horse is fairly explicit and other times it’s more subtle. Some of the lovely humans asking for help have sought some veterinary intervention, but it can happen that their initial vet hasn’t been able to find anything wrong.

If you listened to Episode 8 in Season 1 of An Equine Conversation, Julia’s story with her horse Maddy, you’ll know that Maddy was exhibiting behaviour that indicated something was wrong and that Julia had to push past initial vet suggestions to get to the point of an actual diagnosis for what was wrong, and then how to treat and manage what was going on for him. It took some time and probing and pushing to figure it out.

And here’s the thing. Pain in horses is not always possible to rule out or resolve. It’s not a matter of just saying there’s nothing wrong – because there can be and the science and diagnostic equipment just isn’t there yet to figure absolutely everything out – but, the science, the technology and the research are making progress and there’s so much more available to us than 20 years ago.

I wanted to talk to an Equine Veterinarian about why it’s challenging to rule out pain in horses and what we can and should do about it as owners, so I asked my friend, Dr Lisa Walter, Equine Vet in South Australia, if she would join me for a chat. I always love speaking with Lisa as she has so much knowledge and a constant curiosity about how the horses body works – which has led her to working on a PhD in Sacroilliac dysfunction. I’m so pleased to bring this conversation to you and hope it helps expand your knowledge, awareness, understanding and ability to pursue niggles about any pain you are suspect of with your equines.

Dr Lisa Walter:

Lisa Walter is a veterinarian, researcher and educator with an interest in subtle lameness in sport horses, including the early identification and management of performance horses exhibiting low grade lameness, and locomotory dysfunctions. She completed her veterinary research training and veterinary degree at the University of Melbourne (1998, 2000) and has completed training in traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture with the International Veterinary Acupuncture Society.

Her research includes the validation of a radiographic measurement technique used to identify early indicators of shinsoreness in Thoroughbred racehorses, clinical identification and management of sacroiliac dysfunction, and the effectiveness of different therapeutic modalities for musculoskeletal dysfunction in horses.

Lisa is based in Australia and has worked as a veterinarian in Australia and England in first opinion and referral equine practices. She currently runs her own integrative sport horse practice in the Adelaide Hills integrating veterinary medicine, acupuncture, physical therapy and therapeutic exercise to manage locomotory dysfunction in sport horses. She is a sessional lecturer for undergraduate and postgraduate veterinary courses across several universities, and is completing a PhD in sacroiliac dysfunction in horses at the University of Adelaide.

Outside of work, Lisa is a horse-owning tragic. She has trained and ridden horses across various disciplines including, showing, stockwork, eventing and showjumping. She loves working with the “project” horse and has an understanding and empathy for the challenges and rewards that this can bring.

In this episode we discuss:

2:26 - episode introduction

4:56 - introducing Dr Lisa Walter

6:41 - Lisa’s start & where she’s at now with her work and Equine Veterinary interests

9:16 - what brought Lisa to working on a PhD in sacroiliac dysfunction

12:08 - why is it so difficult to rule out pain in horses & the challenge of identifying indicators of pain in our horses

16:14 - the challenge of the Veterinary community of diagnosing more subtle conditions & the evolution of diagnostic/imaging equipment to better help diagnosis & having a non-verbal patient

18:00 - diagnostic imaging technology for equines

21:59 - Equine Veterinary Specialists

25:20 - why should we continue to try and rule out pain in our horses & not just a ‘naughty pony’

29:31 - the ‘cold backed’ horse

30:19 - pain versus dysfunction & the challenge for Veterinary medicine of understanding ‘normal variation’ with the developing imaging equipment

34:15 - how can individual owners contribute to further research in equine medicine?

37:00 - the evolution of physiological issues - awareness, diagnosis & changes in the equine population & equine management

39:55 - accessing Equine Specialists

43:56 - top tips for listeners - if you’re suspect your horse might be experiencing pain

45:51 - Vets who’ve done additional training in other physical modalities & the importance of having a trusted team of practitioners

48:46 - if you think there’s a problem - there generally is - trust your instinct

Link from this episode:

In this episode, Lisa mentions Dr Sue Dyson’s work on the ridden horse pain ethogram. If you haven’t yet watched already, check out:

‘The 24 Behaviors of the Ridden Horse in Pain: Shifting the Paradigm of How We See Lameness’ on YouTube to learn some about this research.

Our links mentioned this episode:  

Sign-up to our email list

Abbey's Run Equestrian website

Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. You can find out more about podcast support on offer via: Blissery.FM or email info@blissery.fm

We recently released our brand new and long-awaited logo for our business Abbey’s Run Equestrian. The bones of this logo have been rattling around my head for more than 2.5 years and we were finally in a position to bring it to life with the help of Evie Francesca Design Studio. 

While the logo itself is physically 2-dimensional, each element holds a purpose or a story about our business, what we do and why we do it. This episode is to share with you the meaning behind each of the logo elements and what they mean for what we do here at Abbey’s Run Equestrian now and into the future.

In this episode we discuss:

2:15 - episode introduction

2:59 - why ‘Abbey’s Run Equestrian’ & who even is Abbey?

9:15 - tagline: ‘Teaching humans to teach horses’

11:36 - the human

12:46 - the horse

14:30 - the tree

15:20 - the colour & An Equine Conversation logo

Our links mentioned this episode:  

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Abbey's Run Equestrian website

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Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. You can find out more about podcast support on offer via: Blissery.FM or email info@blissery.fm

Late last year I started seeing promotions for the film The Banshees of Inisherin, an Irish film that included a miniature donkey Jenny as one of the stars alongside a cast of several other animals and the human actors including Kerry Condon, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. I’m not always a fan of animals in films but frankly, Jenny was just gorgeous and as my partner Benn is a fan of miniature donkeys, I was paying more attention.

I was so delighted to know that Jenny had been trained using positive reinforcement. Not only that, but she had been trained by someone I’d heard of for some years, Megan Hines. Working on a major motion picture with some big-name stars and experienced crew is not something many of us have exposure to, let alone training an equine using positive reinforcement to exist and perform in that environment. I was really keen to meet Megan, hear her training journey and learn about the experience on the film with Jenny… and to be able to share that conversation with you, so I invited Megan to join us for an episode of An Equine Conversation.

The Banshees of Inisherin was Directed by Martin McDonagh & released here in late December 2022. It has since won 8 Golden Globes, where Colin Farrell thanked Jenny in his acceptance speech, and was nominated for 9 Oscars. If you’ve yet to see it, do make sure to have your hanky ready!

Megan Hines:

Megan Hines is a gentle equine trainer and coach based in County Roscommon, Ireland.

Megan specialises in helping leisure horse owners and those with fearful equines to learn an equine-led approach that builds trust, motivates and brings out the character of your equine.

A South African by birth, Megan was taught by South African National Equestrian Federation instructors for 10 years, where she had the opportunity to experience and compete in a variety of equestrian disciplines including vaulting, gymkhana, dressage, show jumping and cross country.

Now, with over 20 years’ experience training animals with positive reinforcement (the use of rewards to motivate and shape behaviour), she is no longer competitive and is instead passionate about building a trusting human-equine relationship, avoiding stress and fear in daily handling and training, and teaching cooperative care.

Megan continues to further her professional development in the areas of equine behaviour and training through study with internationally recognised equine/mixed species positive reinforcement trainers and behaviourists. Her latest training achievements include the training and handling of Jenny donkey for the acclaimed Banshees of Inisherin.

Megan offers equine training and coaching, allowing you to learn the art and science of positive horsemanship: holistic horse management to best meet equine needs; true liberty work; cooperative care to problem solve for the vet, trimmer and for general handling; bring out the potential of fearful equines; ultimately enjoying a better relationship with your horse, pony, mule or donkey.

In this episode we discuss:

3:35 - introducing Megan

5:49 - Megan’s equine learning & training journey

11:04 - moving into volunteering with rescue horses & learning online

13:46 - the natural horsemanship phase

14:42 - moving out the other side toward training more with positive reinforcement

16:04 - the importance of looking at the animal in front of you

17:30 - becoming a Connection Training coach

19:00 - shifting to look at holistic needs of the animals

20:55 - equines learning from watching other equines learning & how that impacts float/trailer load training

26:17 - more on Megan’s equines, on working with rescue mules, donkey’s & working with livery horses

35:30 - on training the livery foal

42:02 - how Megan came to be training Jenny the donkey for The Banshees of Inisherin  

46:00 - the lead time for training before filming began & what Jenny needed to learn

47:37 - how training for film relates to training our own horses for complex & stimulating environments  

51:12 - and onward to shooting & working with the cast & crew

55:06 - scene takes & keeping Jenny interested  

57:06 - verbal cues, visual cues or both

59:27 - working with the actors & Jenny

1:02:32 - more on the parallels with training for film & ‘normal’ horsie life & the importance of a good relationship & time

1:07:08 - where Jenny’s at now

1:08:40 - Megan’s coaching services, locally & virtually world-wide

1:11:07 - how online coaching compares to in person for Megan

1:14:00 - Megan’s top tips for you, our listeners, that you can go and do now

Links from Megan:

Website: Megan Hines Equine

Facebook: Megan Hines - Positive Equine Training Ireland

Instagram: Megan Hines Equine

Our links mentioned this episode:  

Sign-up to our email list

Abbey's Run Equestrian website

Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. You can find out more about podcast support on offer via: Blissery.FM or email info@blissery.fm

Dr Emmanuelle Van Erck, and MSD’s own Equine Marketing & Technical Manager, Blaise Scott Morris, team up to teach us about innovative technology and data-driven equipment that can change the face of equine medicine as we know it.

We ask Emmanuelle how she became interested in the application of technology in her practice and why she is looking at data to move the profession forwards.

We discuss how data is a fantastic tool to improve your horses' training and explore reasons why there has been resistance to using data-driven technology in the equine field, despite the clear evidence for improved welfare in sports.

Our guests explain how this technology can be implemented by general practitioners and clients, and how an app could support the bond between the owner and horse.

We then move on to discuss the technical innovations happening at MSD and, as someone at the forefront of equine innovation, what Blaise’s job really entails on a day-to-day basis.

Blaise explains how MSD’s new thermal microchip is empowering owners whilst improving safety for both vets and horses. By developing innovative products, we can revolutionise the way equine healthcare works.

Useful Links:

Equine Sports Medicine Practice https://www.esmp.be

Equimetre by Arioneo
https://training.arioneo.com/en/racehorse-heart-rate-monitor-equimetre-flat-harness/

HomeAgain® Thermochip®
https://www.homeagain.co.uk/about-microchips/thermochip

MSD Research Bursary
https://www.msd-animal-health.co.uk/company-overview/research-bursary/

Join us each month for a new episode of The KBHH Equine Vets Podcast and stay informed on the latest developments in equine health and wellness. To get in touch with the show, please email kbhhuk@msd.com.

We are super excited to be back with Season 2 of An Equine Conversation. Check out the trailer for a glimpse of Episode 1 & some fun training action we’ve got going on.

As with Season 1, Season 2 episodes will drop on a Wednesday morning, Melbourne/Sydney time. The season consists of 8 episodes (episodes we are so excited about bringing to your ears) plus this trailer. Episode 1 will be released on Wednesday, April 26.

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. You can find out more about podcast support on offer via: Blissery.FM or email info@blissery.fm

You hear it all the time: “Young riders today don’t know about horsemanship.” “Kids today just want to get on and ride.” “There are no more barn rats.” These complaints point to a larger potential issue of losing generational knowledge. Is it something we, as horsepeople, should be concerned about? 

To help us answer this question, we turned to Archie Cox, owner and head trainer at Brookway Stables. Along the way, our broad conversation covered a lot of ground that should hopefully make us all feel a little better about the future, and a little more empowered about how we can all become better horsemen. 

Archie has been immersed in the horse world his entire life, and has operated Brookway Stables for 23 years. During that time, he’s coached numerous horses and riders to national titles and wins at the biggest shows in the country, and remarkably through it all, he’s kept the same manager, farrier, and vet. His daily routine revolves around starting early (as in 3am!), staying consistent, and keeping things simple - all of which he says contributes to his amazing success in the industry. 

In the conversation, host Caroline Culbertson and Archie discuss:

• Whether riders in 2023 know as much about horse management as riders in 1983

• The role of “tradition” and its connection to safety and function

• How passion acts as the driving force for those who seek out knowledge

• Social media, and why it’s such an important tool in horse education

• Archie’s two C’s: Consistency and Curiosity

• How to find your “flavor” of riding, and why the industry needs all types of riders

• The responsibility of trainers in teaching horse management as well as riding

Vets are one of the unsung heroes of horse sport. Horses are unfailingly creative (and effective) at hurting themselves; from a mystery lameness to a sudden colic to every type of laceration you could dream up, a day that goes by without some sort of injury is a good day by default. 

Because of this, having access to a good vet is a critical part of horse ownership, but the criteria for what makes someone a “good” vet is cloudy at best. How responsive and available should your vet be? What sort of equipment should they use? Is it better to work with one vet, or a team of several, and how do you go about putting that team together? And just how late is too late to text them? 

In this episode, host Caroline Culbertson sits down with equine veterinarian Dr. Lauren Schnabel (who is, by all accounts, a Good Vet) to try to get some clear answers to these questions. 

Dr. Schnabel is the Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at NC State University, and has over 20 years of equine clinical experience, and over 15 years of both equine and human research in the field of Sports Medicine. 

They discuss:

• How important are credentials? Hands-on experience? Personality/bedside manner? What else?

• Rules of communication for the client/vet relationship

• Questions to ask when screening a new vet 

• How to handle mistakes when they happen

• The steps to creating a good “team” for your horse, and who should lead that team

• The best way to break up with your vet, should that step need to be taken

• How important equipment and diagnostic tools are when choosing a vet

• What if a vet has a troubling “red flag” in their past?

In today’s episode, I’m speaking with Julia Inglis, a very good friend of mine who I met virtually through a mutual friend. Julia lives over in Western Australia, the other side of the country from me, and we’re actually yet to meet in real life. Julia and I are messaging one another and sometimes talking, almost daily about horse training and management. While we had so much we talked about discussing on this episode, we decided that actually the best place to start, was with Julia’s story – or at least some of. It’s a story that there is a lot to learn from - both in the way of managing horses (particularly those with Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) and ulcers) and in the way of training approaches.

So now, let me introduce you to my good friend, Julia:

Julia Inglis:

Julia grew up in the UK and was animal mad from a young age, catching her first pet when a rabbit wandered into her garden. She learned to ride at school but stopped for many years when she went to university in Glasgow before moving to London for further studies. Julia completed her PhD in neuropharmacology in 2004 and went on to establish a research career in the area of pain mechanisms in arthritis.

After completing her studies Julia started riding again at a local riding school, and around this time she met her now husband at a conference. He lived in Perth, Australia and in a bid to persuade her to move there started sending adverts for horse properties and horses. Within months Julia moved to Australia and they bought their first horse, which soon became 2 then 3, and is now a small farm full of animals.

Julia rode traditionally for close to a decade, bush riding and dressage but when her horse refused to move under saddle ended up learning about alternative ways to train and positive reinforcement. This has now become her passion and obsession as it combines science and training geekery with animals - her two great loves.

In this episode we discuss:

5:00 - Julia's formative years with horses

8:30 - coming to Australia (from the UK), starting with horses here & the steep learning curve when you realise how much you don’t know

12:41 - the current set-up & animal collective

16:01 - Julia’s learning journey with horses & evolution since becoming a horse-owner. Recognising there was more to learn about riding

19:40 - the start of the challenges with Maddy’s health & training

22:39 - Maddy’s health problems become more evident

24:34 - needing to look beyond what you know

26:12 - the impact of Maddy’s ulcers & laminitis on transitioning to training using positive reinforcement

27:08 - full introduction to Maddy

32:02 - managing Maddy with ulcers, laminitis & EMS - the juggle and progression of management

41:07 - Julia’s training journey & shift in training approach to positive reinforcement (R+), also known as ‘clicker training’

47:26 - the influence of health on behaviour

49:17 - introducing Neo & his journey

53:03 - where Julia’s at with training with R+ now

55:04 - training with Ori (the dog) and other animals with R+ as well as the horses & the availability of learning with R+ with a dog

1:00:04 - the virtual/online training experience & the benefits

1:05:14 - top tips for you: understanding your horse, if your horses behaviour changes - get a vet, don’t keep doing the same thing that’s not going well & expecting different results - get expert help, don’t withhold food

1:09:36 - important end-of-series announcements

Link from Julia:

While not mentioned in the podcast, Julia has requested we share the link for the Western Australia (WA) Equine Clicker Trainer group so that those in WA who are interested can join and share.

Our links mentioned this episode:  

Sign-up to our email list

Start Your Engines course+workshop

Abbey's Run Equestrian website

Abbey's Run Equestrian on Facebook

Thank you to Matthew Bliss for podcast production & consultation. You can find out more about podcast support on offer via: Blissery.FM or email info@blissery.fm